Press statement: LHR pleased by dismissal of application against reopening PE reception office

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is pleased with the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of an application by the Department of Home Affairs against a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that it reopen the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (RRO), bringing an end to a long-running litigation battle.

This means Home Affairs must adhere to the SCA ruling and reopen the office. They will have three months to do so from the date of the order.

The Port Elizabeth RRO was closed in 2011, severely curtailing refugee services for the asylum seeker population in and around the Eastern Cape. This was exacerbated by Home Affairs’ unwillingness to allow files to be transferred to remaining RROs in Pretoria, Durban and Musina. Home Affairs’ decision to close the RRO ostensibly forms part of their broader policy decision to move asylum processing to the borders of the country, a policy move which LHR strongly opposes.

LHR, on behalf of the Somali Association of South Africa and Project for Conflict Resolution and Development and assisted by the Refugee Rights Project at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, in 2012 obtained an order setting aside the closure. However, Home Affairs failed to reopen it. Instead the director-general took a new decision to keep the RRO closed but this too was declared unlawful and the court ordered that it be reopened by October 2013. This decision was taken on appeal by Home Affairs in the SCA.

Home Affairs had based part of its decision to close the office on plans to open a reception office at the Lebombo border crossing with Mozambique. The original date for the construction and opening of the office was earmarked for April 2012 but was delayed for nearly four years with a new date expected in April 2016 at the earliest. In the meantime, no additional offices have been put in place to deal with the overflow of clients at the four remaining offices.

The SCA was particularly critical of Home Affairs Director-General Mkuseli Apleni’s conduct in seeking to circumvent the previous two orders, saying “it is a most dangerous thing for litigants, particularly a state department and senior officials in its employ, to willfully ignore an order of court”. The justices were also critical of the way in which the Department misled Parliament by stating that no new office would be opened in Lebombo. Apleni stated that the answer to that parliamentary question was only for that financial year and relied on unspecified parliamentary “customs” of only answering questions regarding the proceeding financial year. “That such a response is adduced by a senior official – under oath no less – beggars belief,” the judgment read.

“What makes this outcome so significant is that this vulnerable population has finally been recognised. Asylum seekers are not entitled to any state assistance and are expected to find their own jobs and means of supporting themselves and their families,” said LHR’s David Cote.

LHR is concerned that the rights of refugees and asylum seekers will be even more severely curtailed with the newly introduced Refugee Amendment Bill, slated to be adopted by Parliament in March 2016. LHR will continue to engage with Home Affairs and Parliament to ensure that South Africa abides by its international obligations and ensures the protection of international refugees within our borders.